Electrical advice and information

Find out about the different sorts of cable that are used to install electrics throughout your home, and why they're used.

Running electrical cables everywhere can become very messy and create maintenance nightmares. Conduits, cable trays and other cable management systems make a big difference.

Switchboards and meters are the central point at which your electrical systems connect to 'the grid'. Find out more about switchboards / switch boxes, meters, fuses, safety switches and circuit breakers.

Safety switches, also known as 'residual current devices' or RCDs, are a type of switch located in your switch box that helps prevent injury or death as a result of electrocution.

Circuit breakers are devices that help prevent damage by cutting power to a circuit if it becomes overloaded or short circuits. Circuit breakers are typically found in switch boxes.

Switch boxes are the central hub from which all of a house's electrical systems are managed and distributed. The switch box also contains safety switches and circuit breakers.

Electricity meters are installed between your house and the mains power supply to measure how much power your home consumes.

Required by law in Australia, smoke alarms are designed to detect when there's smoke in your house to help prevent fires. Find out how they work and where they need to be installed.

Energy management dashboards or systems can be used in conjunction with smart meters to help monitor and regulate how electricity is used in your home.

What sort of things are likely to affect the performance of your home's electrical systems?

In older houses, switchboxes, fuses and cabling were often designed to handle less current than many of us use today. Find out how to tell if this affects your home.

Small considerations can make a very big difference when it comes to how energy efficient your electrical systems are. Find out what you can do to increase your home's efficiency.

Fuses, circuit breakers and safety switches all offer very different levels of protection and safety. See how they differ, and find out how to improve the safety of your electrical systems.

Regulations exist in Australia to ensure that power points (or GPOs) are installed safely and sensibly. Learn more about where power points should be installed.

Like all things, over time wiring and the shielding that surrounds it tends to deteriorate. See how this affects the safety and performance of your electrical systems.

Under certain circumstances, portable appliances in homes need to be tested and tagged to ensure that they don't pose an electrical safety risk. Find out when testing and tagging must be carried out.

State and federal governments currently offer significant rebates for solar electricity installations. Find out how these are regulated, how the rebates work, and what you're entitled to.

The law in Australia now requires that all homes be fitted with safety switches (also called residual current devices or RCDs). Learn more about why, and how they work.

Electrical systems installed outside may be exposed to the elements, so it's vital that appropriately weatherproofed equipment is used. Find out what the law says about outdoor electrical fittings.

Learn about how different types of walls and floor materials (like SIPS, or suspended concrete slabs, for example) may lead to different demands in terms of how wiring is installed.